Raw Tomato, Macadamia Cheese & Caramelized Onion Tart

I catered a lunch to be filmed for InStyle Magazine TV yesterday. As I brought out dessert, the film crew turned the camera on me and the interviewer asked me about the dishes I created. I froze and barely whispered what they were - LOL. It's for Korean TV, so hopefully I'll be dubbed.
I made an all-raw lunch of Zucchini with Walnut Basil Pesto; Heirloom Tomato & Herb Salad; Raw Tomato, Macadamia Cheese & Caramelized Onion Tarts; and Blueberry Cobbler with Cashew Whipped Cream. Unfortunately, I only had a chance to take a photo of the Tarts.
[caption id="attachment_4191" align="aligncenter" width="461" ...

Giveaway: Big Fat Organic Coconut Chips!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!
Big fat coconut chips! I love 'em because they're so versatile. I can use them in an impromptu trail mix with nuts and goji berries (shreds and flakes are too small to grab by the handful); add them on top of a yummy dessert like coconut cream pie to make it look STUNNING; or pulse them down finer, if I need smaller flakes or even coconut flour in a jiffy.
One of my fave quickie desserts is to melt a couple tablespoons of coconut oil, stir in cacao, maca, mesquite and lucuma powder until ...

Wild Foraging in NJ

Hey guys! Here is my photo album of some of the wonderful wild plant foods you can find locally in the NY/NJ area. These were taken during a foraging tour with Wildman Steve Brill in Central Park in early April. I highly recommend going foraging with someone who knows there stuff just to be sure you don't pick something poisonous.
The availability changes seasonally so foraging every week can produce new and different edibles. Just make sure you select an area away from traffic and that is not treated with pesticides. Ever since I took the class, I can't walk outside ...

Classic Indian Sweet – Revisited & Raw

I still remember the sweet shops when I lived in India for a month studying Ashtanga - neat rows of tantalizing bite-size treats. The shop owners used to laugh at my pronunciation when I placed an order, but I didn’t care. It was worth the humiliation. Washed down with cool coconut water from a freshly cut coco, it was the perfect end to a hard day of yoga and lounging around steamy Mysore.
[caption id="attachment_3718" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption=""Rows of Indian Sweets!""][/caption]
For the longest time, I thought about recreating burfi (also spelled ‘barfi’ but that sounds so unappetizing - lol) into a ...

Cloves Cinnamon Cacao – Wow!

I've always heard people proclaim that chocolate is high on the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale but I could never really find the proof - until now. I found this study from the USDA that compares the ORAC values of food. The top five per 100 grams in descending order are cloves, cinnamon, oregano, tumeric and cocoa powder. So chocolate REALLY is up there!
[caption id="attachment_3559" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption=""Top Foods in ORAC Value""][/caption]
When ranked by typical serving, a square of unsweetened baking chocolate knocked cloves out of the number one spot (since you wouldn't typically eat 100g of cloves,) followed ...

‘What’s in the Fridge’ Raw Nori Roll

I was looking in my fridge, trying to decide what to make. Cauliflower, mixed greens, sprouts, avocado...yay, raw nori roll!! So I took out my mini food processor and started tossing things in. This recipe makes one roll. The specs aren't too exact, so experiment with what you have - you just can't go wrong. ;)
Raw Nori Roll for One
[caption id="attachment_3356" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption=""Raw Sushi Roll for One""][/caption]
Cauliflower "Rice"
half a head of cauliflower
2 diced spring onions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp tamari sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
1) Pulse cauliflower until rice-like.
2) Add the rest of ingredients and pulse again until combined.
3) Taste ...

Blender Mayo-amazing!

I avoided mayonnaise for the looongest time because I, like millions of Americans fell for the nationwide “fat is bad for you” hoopla pushed by the USDA for decades. Then when I went raw vegan, mayo was definitely a no-no and creaminess was replaced with nuts and avocado.
But since reading more and more about nutrition, the work of Weston Price and even some raw food advocates like Dr. Mercola and Dr. Stanley Bass who recommend raw eggs, I’m finding creative ways to add them to my diet and mayo fits the bill nicely!
So Why Raw Eggs?
"Eggs supply all essential amino ...

Food Review: Askinosie Chocolate

I like to think of myself as somewhat of a chocolat connoisseur. For the longest time, I didn't indulge because I had really bad acne and chocolate aggravated it. It wasn't until years later that I found out that it wasn't the "chocolate" cacao bean itself, it was all the crap other unrecognizable ingredients that went into a typical SAD chocolate bar. After I went high raw and discovered raw cacao, wow! - not only could I eat it, but now it was good for me (in moderation, of course. ;))
Since then I've expanded my repertoire to include high quality ...

Roasted Garlic Goodness

When I last fired up my oven to make a batch of roasted veggies, I decided to try out my new (used) garlic roaster that I got for free. (Thank you Freecycle!) The garlic came out awesome! I mixed some of the garlic paste with my roasted cauliflower instead of roasting crushed garlic WITH the cauliflower. Much better!
After squeezing a few cloves directly into my mouth - YUM! - I put what was left of the bulb into a little jar to use with other dishes. (I probably walk around reeking like a big old garlic clove and I don't ...

EcoFriendly Glass Drinking Straws

I just got a new glass straw from Glass Dharma. Love it! :) I chose the 8" smoothie size with green decorative dots. The dots are key, so it doesn't roll off the counter and break. The diameter is a roomy 12mm - perfect for my thick smoothies and elixirs. There are several other drinking straw styles, sizes and colors to chose from.
I also got the stainless steel cleaning brush. The brush is tres important. My first glass straw got a bit cloudy after use because it's narrower and I didn't have a good way to clean it well. But ...

Raw Dark Chocolate Walnut Bark Recipe

Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to post a little reminder that the Valentine's Day Coconut Giveaway ends tomorrow at 11:59pm. A winner will be drawn via random.org. As I write this, there are only 44 entries so there's a very good chance of winning. And the more you enter, the better your odds!
Here is a Valentine's Day recipe that you can make with your coconut oil windfall - Raw Walnut Chocolate Bark. The lucuma powder and stevia sweeteners make it low glycemic. The maca powder adds a malty flavor. Maca is an adaptogen, which means it has the ability to balance ...

Feb 2010: Virgin Coconut Oil Giveaway

THIS GIVEAWAY IS OVER. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING. CHECK THE SIDEBAR FOR THE CURRENT GIVEAWAY. Quality coconut oil really does make a difference in food prep. I made a favorite quick dish yesterday - pan seared scallops with arugula sauteed in garlic and coconut oil (picture above) and it came out fabulous!
So if you've been following my blog, you know that I decided to review four organic coconut oils. Tropical Traditions ranked the highest overall. To be honest with you, I have tasted some premium coconut oils nearly as good as Tropical Traditions, but what gave them the edge is ...

Raw Christmas Canapes in July

I just made these little raw canapes last weekend for friends. They were really yummy and cute. Rolling them up and tying them with the chive without tearing it - tricky! I had a few casualties which I had to sacrifice and eat ;) but after the first couple, I had an assembly line going. I think soaking the chives in water helps make it more pliable.
[caption id="attachment_1834" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Raw Amuse Bouche"][/caption]
The recipe is called "Rolled Courgette Ribbons with Sweet Beet Paté" from Russell James Christmas Recipe E-book. I omitted the beetroot juice and agave because I'm trying to ...

Melty Chocolate Chunk Walnut unCookie

Sundays + rain = time to do some unbaking! I was itching for a sweet treat but too lazy to go out, so I started scavenging the cupboards. Cacao, lucuma, almond butter, walnuts, maca - all the makings of a quick yum pot, but I wanted MORE. Something special. A really raw decadent chocolate chip cookie! So I started rifling through my recipes and came across an all-time sure-fire winner - the infamous chocolate chunk walnut cookie from Sweet Gratitude. They came out AMAZING!
Now this ain't one of your lickity-split, easy peasy raw recipes. It takes time and a whole ...

Adventures Across Oz – Part 1

Yep I did it. Crossed the continent of Australia from West to East Coast. On the "wrong" side of the road no less. lol.
It was easier than I thought. The Nullarbor Plain was the most challenging part - just looooong stretches of desert with a roadhouse every 200k's or so. Luckily some very bored people have created man-made "landmarks" to keep you entertained - like the sneaker tree, the water bottle tree, the shoe tree and yes, the underwear tree.
There are wild camels, dingos, wombats and of course, the ever present Aussie kangaroos, living on the Nullarbor. Was hoping to ...

Wild Mushroom Foraging in NJ

by lilla on February 2, 2010

First I remember David Wolfe talking about it. Then Daniel Vitalis. Followed by several rawies facebooking about their wild mushroom finds. The benefits of medicinal mushrooms has become a growing topic of conversation in the raw food circle. Huge chunks of chaga that can retail for $65/lb (wow!) have been found right in people’s “backyard.” So, inspired by all the ’shroom chatter and some of the many benefits listed here…

Extreme Anti-Oxidant

High ORAC levels

Abundance of B Vitamins

Strengthens Immune System

Improves Resistance to Diseases

Supports Immune Function

Anti-Aging

Eliminates the Effects of Stress

…I decided to go for a mushroom hunt a few weeks ago when the weather was a positively “balmy” 40F. A field guide would have been a good idea but nah, I just went for it! So this is what I found:

1) From looking at pictures and descriptions on the web, I think this one is “stereum ostrea” or false turkey tail. It was very thin, had a smooth surface and was growing on a dead log.

False Turkey Tail?

2) Next up was this guy which was growing on a tree. It was thicker than the specimen above with visible pores and really hard to get off the tree. I have no idea what this one is!

????

3) Last one was big black clump growing on the side of a tree. When I saw it, I thought I had seriously hit a motherload of chaga! It looked like the pictures I had seen on the web but when I took it home, I read online that chaga (a) is orange/gold on the inside (mine wasn’t) and (2) it grows on birch trees ( I didn’t take note of the tree, but I don’t think it was birch.)

Not Chaga

So that was my first mushroom expedition in Northern NJ. I obviously need to do more research and become better informed – lol. “Wildman” Steve Brill runs foraging tours in Central Park. Sounds like a good place to start this Spring. Also, the website Mushroom Experts has some good info too. In the meantime, if anyone can identify these pics, I would love to learn more.

Here’s a bit from Dr. Andrew Weil:

Weil, pointing out that, “mushrooms have little to do with the sun,” has speculated that wild mushrooms contain “lunar energy”, the consumption of which may “stimulate imagination and intuition.”